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The Oasis
'Those who remain in me and I in them, will bear much fruit.' JOHN 15:5
Why is it, that even when we know what's best for us, we just don't do it? Just above the Himalayan mountains in Tibet there are miles of barren wasteland. There's nothing on this wasteland. It's brown, dry, dusty, and flat with no features, no plants, no rainfall, no rocks, not even the odd bit of anything to make it interesting. Nothing lives there, apart from the Wild ***. Every day these donkeys trek miles and miles to an oasis, a beautiful lake of fresh crystal blue water surrounded by green grass and plants. They spend a few hours grazing here, eating, drinking, before wandering back to the baron, brown nothingness.
Scientists have been baffled for years. Why don't these stupid donkeys just live at the oasis? There appears to be no reason for it, they just live in the dust, always have done, always will do. As dumb as these animals sound, so often we do the same! We know God's goodness, we've tasted the life-giving water, we've sampled His amazing grace and His unending, unfailing love for us.
We know how good it is to know Him, to speak to Him, to worship Him, yet time and time again we wander back to our miserable sinful lives. Why don't we just live at the oasis? Jesus said we should remain in Him so if you're in the dust today, get back to the oasis!
Word 4 2day
Three big mistakes
'This is the day the Lord has made.' PSALM 118:24
Three of the biggest mistakes you can make are:
1) Longing for yesterday. A lady wrote to a newspaper editor, 'Your paper is not as good as it used to be.' He replied, 'It never has been!'
Learn from the past, but don't put a halo on it. The Bible says:
a) 'Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise' (Ecclesiastes 7:10 NIV)
b) 'Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?' (Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV).
2) Longing for the right somebody. It's better to want what you don't have than have what you don't want. The 'somebody blues' can cause you to finish up like the lady who said, 'I never knew what real happiness was until I married my husband; now it's too late!' Two dysfunctional people usually don't make one happy couple. When you're by yourself, at least you know who you're dealing with. God knows what you need better than you do, and 'No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly' (Psalm 84:11). Instead of finding the right person, strive to become the right person!
3) Longing for some future destination. It's a mistake to believe that when you arrive at a certain point you'll be happy; when you retire, take that trip or reach that goal. No, your happiest moments are along the way, not at the end of the trip. When it comes to living you can't improve on the Scripture 'This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.'
written by Bob Gass
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